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AL Direct, November 2, 2011 Contents American Libraries Online ALA News Booklist Online Dallas Update Division News Awards & Grants Seen Online Tech Talk E-Content The e-newsletter of the American Library Association | November 2, 2011 Books & Reading Actions & Answers New This Week Calendar American Libraries Online Libraries tap into crowd power It seemed only natural when one of the most- consulted websites in the world recently posted a ubiquitous banner stating WIKIPEDIA LOVES LIBRARIES. What has resulted is a nationwide “editathon”—editing marathons organized by active Wikipedia users to expand and add depth to the website’s content on a wide range of cultural and historical topics. Dozens of them are taking place in cities across the country, including Atlanta, Boulder, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.... American Libraries news, Nov. 1 School filters reach into students’ homes Pop star Lisa Loeb will Gordon Flagg writes: “The installation of filtering software on bring her wit, wacky computers continues to create problems for students doing humor, and sparkling assignments using computers on their school campuses—and even creativity to the Wrap Up beyond. A survey conducted by the Dartmouth (Mass.) High School’s Rev Up Celebration during student newspaper, The Spectrum, has found that, since the school the Midwinter Exhibits district installed Fortiguard Web Filtering in January, 89% of students Closing on January 23. have had difficulty researching school-related topics on campus. It also reported that students and teachers have been banned from all streaming media.”... AL: Censorship Watch, Nov. 2 Next Steps: Building a competitive advantage Brian Mathews writes: “When Susan Nutter (right) took over the leadership role at North Carolina State University Libraries in Raleigh, it wasn’t a very inspiring organization. A study found it to be the academic library least able to meet its mission in the state; as a result, faculty were upset, and then they did something about it. In 1996 the faculty senate voted unanimously to use a portion of tuition increases to improve the libraries rather than to raise their own salaries. This was the spark that Nutter needed.”... American Libraries column, Nov./Dec. http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2011/november/110211-2.htm[7/17/2014 3:03:04 PM] AL Direct, November 2, 2011 Technology in Practice: Information literacy 2.0 Meredith Farkas writes: “Critical-inquiry skills are among the most important in a world in which the half-life of information is rapidly shrinking. These days, what you know is almost less important than what you can find out. And finding out today requires a set of skills that are very different from what most libraries focus on. In addition to academic sources, a huge wealth of content is being produced by people every day in knowledgebases like Wikipedia, review sites like Trip Advisor, and in blogs. Some of this content is legitimate and valuable—but some of it isn’t.”... American Libraries column, Nov./Dec. ALA News Schulman, Jordan, Loeb scheduled for Midwinter Acclaimed authors Helen Schulman (left) and Hillary Jordan (right) are scheduled to kick off the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas on January 20, and Grammy-nominated Lisa Loeb will close out the festivities on January 23. The authors will sign copies of their latest works at their publishers’ booths during the Opening Exhibits Reception.... Conference Services, Nov. 1 FCC announces Connect America Fund The Federal Communications Commission announced the creation of the Connect America Fund on October 27 as part of its reform and modernization of the Universal Service Fund. It outlined five goals for this reform, including ensuring universal availability of modern networks capable of providing voice and broadband service to homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions. ALA had filed comments (PDF file) in April in support of creating the CAF.... District Dispatch, Oct. 31 First set of ALA web pages are live in Drupal Louise Gruenberg writes: “On October 19, we reached two truly significant milestones in the ALA migration to Drupal project. We soft-launched the first phase of single-sign-on powered by Shibboleth and the PLA website in Drupal. Although the process hasn’t been without a few bumps, on October 27 we launched ALSC, ALSConnect, LLAMA, and I Love Libraries. Here is what we learned during these test migrations.”... ITTS News, Oct. 28 National Novel Writing Month The Campaign for America’s Libraries is kicking off monthlong activities for National Novel Writing Month. During November, librarians across the country and around the world will be reminding would-be writers of all the great resources they have to offer when it comes to writing their masterpiece. A Library Outreach Guide can be found here. GalleyCat is offering one piece of NaNoWriMo advice every day for the rest of the month.... ALA Public Information Office, Nov. 1; GalleyCat, Nov. 1 http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2011/november/110211-2.htm[7/17/2014 3:03:04 PM] AL Direct, November 2, 2011 ALA student chapters survey results Don Wood writes: “The 2011 ALA Student Chapters Survey was conducted over a three-month period from July to October 2011. The results are in and can be found posted (PDF file) at the Student Chapter Leadership group on ALA Connect. One interesting finding is that only just over 51% of the students answering the survey belong to their state library association.”... AL: Student Membership Blog, Nov. 1 Money Smart Week @ your library, 2012 Interested in helping your community become “money smart,” but missed out on the recent webinar? It is now archived and available for viewing at your convenience. Next April 21–28, you and your library can participate with hundreds of other libraries across the country. Money Smart Week’s mission is to promote personal financial literacy.... Chapter Relations Office Webinar on comics/manga censorship Access to comic books, graphic novels, and manga is an increasingly hot topic in the library, creative, and free speech communities. To kick off our “Intellectual Freedom across the Globe” webinar series, OIF and the IFLA Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression will present a “Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga, and Libraries” webinar on November 9, a one-hour look at how censorship affects comics around the world. Register online.... OIF Blog, Oct. 31 New series of diversity webinars Office for Diversity is introducing the first three installments of its Diversity Leadership Online series, beginning December 1. This ongoing webinar series provides the foundation for a culture of responsible diversity leadership within the profession. To register and learn more about upcoming sessions, visit the ALA Online Learning website.... Office for Diversity, Oct. 31 Tips for building support for rural libraries Start building support for your rural library by attending the “Small but Powerful Webinar for Winning Big Support for Your Rural Library.” This free hourlong webinar will take place at 1 p.m. Central time on December 14 and will present tips and strategies from the toolkit, share the experiences of a rural librarian who has successfully built support, and highlight additional advocacy tools and resources available from ALA. Registration is required.... Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, Nov. 1 LSSC will partner with other programs The ALA–Allied Professional Association announced November 1 that the Library Support Staff Certification program will partner with 11 Library Assistant Training programs in a project that will allow their graduates to receive the LSSC without having to further demonstrate their skills and knowledge.... ALA–Allied Professional Association , Nov. 1 http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2011/november/110211-2.htm[7/17/2014 3:03:04 PM] AL Direct, November 2, 2011 An introduction to LSSC LSSC will offer an hourlong informational webinar at 2 p.m. Central time on November 15. The presentation will explain the value of this certification to library support staff, employers, and library users. Attendees will also have the opportunity to have their questions answered by program staff members.... ALA–Allied Professional Association , Nov. 1 Cutting-edge technology nominations extended The Office for Information Technology Policy and LITA are extending the deadline for submitting nominations for best library practices using cutting-edge technology to November 8. Members from the OITP Subcommittee on America’s Libraries for the 21st Century and LITA will review all nominations and may conduct selected interviews or site visits to identify those libraries that are truly offering a best practice or most innovative service.... Office for Information Technology Policy, Oct. 31 Hugo, based on author-illustrator Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is in theaters nationwide beginning November 23. Use this poster and bookmark in celebration of this Caldecott Medal- winning book and soon-to-be movie Featured review: Adult biography classic. Hugo from Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. Oct. 2011. ©2011 Paramount 630p. Simon and Schuster, hardcover (978- Pictures Corporation 1-4516-4853-9). and GK Films. NEW! Now we all know how the story ends. But From ALA Graphics. that only adds a certain frisson to this biography of the man who was determined to “make a dent in reality.” Shaping reality was what Jobs was about, not only in his New this week extraordinary vision of how personal in American computers could remake the world but also in his personal life, Libraries where early forays into Eastern mysticism led to belief in what Star Trek called a “reality distortion field”—Jobs believed reality was malleable and made others believe it, too. The book is filled with examples of projects that seemed impossible to complete but were completed and goals that appeared unachievable but were achieved—all because Jobs insisted it could be done.